Ontario New Democratic Youth
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Ontario New Democratic Youth (ONDY) (in French: Jeunes Néo-Démocrates de l'Ontario, JNDO) - is the youth wing of the Ontario New Democratic Party. All members of the ONDP under the age of 26 are considered to be members of ONDY.
In October 2006, Dave Molenhuis and Chantal Arseneault-Lewis were elected co-chairs of ONDY, at the youth convention in London, Ontario. ONDY has two members on the provincial executive of the ONDP, one male and one female representative, who serve for a term of two years. They are currently Andrew Brett and Alex Dodger.
In the early 1970’s the Ontario youth wing of the NDP had aligned itself with The Waffle, as a result ONDY was disbanded. It was not until 1988 that ONDY was reconstituted.
Notable former co-chairs include University of Toronto SAC chair and current NDYC co-chair Jennifer Hassum, political strategist Jamey Heath, social activist Sean Cain and journalist Natasha Fatah. Barry Weisleder was an ONDY president in the 1970s; Joe Young a member in the 1960s.
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[edit] Mandate
The ONDY Mandate, written by Sean Cain and passed during the 1998 convention, was one of the few radical documents that still remained in the NDP. It was based somewhat on the Regina Manifesto, the founding document of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation the forerunner party to the NDP. The mandate denounced the capitalist system as being "authoritarian", and called for its replacement with democratic socialism. The final paragraph of the mandate was paraphrased from the final line of the Regina Manifesto: "The ONDY will not rest until capitalism has been eradicated and replaced with a democratic, classless and socialist society" This line was removed in the 2005 ONDY convention.
After the formation of a policy committee to review the ONDY mandate and a year-long consultative process, the ONDY mandate was revised and replaced with a more moderate version at the 2005 ONDY convention in Ottawa.
[edit] Executive
The current ONDY Executive, elected October 2006, is as follows:
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Co-Chair | Chantal Arseneault-Lewis |
| Co-Chair | Dave Molenhuis |
| Secretary | Alison Forster |
| Treasurer | Alicia Van de Weghe |
| Communications Director | Devin Johnston |
| Francophone Affairs Director | Stephen MacDonald |
| Policy Director | Rachael Baker |
| Provincial Executive Rep | Alex Dodger |
| Provincial Executive Rep | Andrew Brett |
| Womens Caucus Chair | Yolanda Clatworthy |
| Ethnocultural Rep | Diego Cheiji |
| Ethnocultural Rep Alternate | Janice Lee |
| LGBTQ Rep | Kathleen Peck |
[edit] Socialism and Freedom
Socialism and Freedom is the Official Magazine of the Ontario New Democratic Youth. The magazine was first published in May 1998 and by spring 2003 ten issues had been distributed, at which point the newsletter was not published again until the October 2006 ONDY Convention. The renewed version of Socialism and Freedom was edited by Andrew Brett and Julian Benson.
[edit] Chapters
While riding associations can form youth clubs, ONDY does not currently have any chartered riding, union or high school clubs. It does however have several chartered University clubs. An ONDY club can be found at the following schools:
- Brock University
- Carleton University - Carleton University New Democrats
- University of Guelph
- Lakehead University
- McMaster University
- University of Ottawa/l’Université d’Ottawa - UONDP/NPDUO
- Queen's University - Queen's NDP Association
- Ryerson University
- University of Toronto - U of T NDP
- University of Toronto at Mississauga, Erindale College
- University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus
- Trent University
- University of Waterloo
- University of Western Ontario - Western New Democrats
- Wilfrid Laurier University - Laurier Activist New Democrats
- University of Windsor
